Image provided by: West Linn High School; West Linn, OR
About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2010)
Lions finish 2009 holiday tournament strong, open league with Milwaukie, Lakeridge, LO S ean P ebler _________________ The Varsity Girls' Basketball Team finished off its pre-season schedule with a strong showing at the Canby Holiday Tournament. The Lions won a lopsided game against an unexperienced McKay team 53-3. Next, the team faced the Westview Wildcats, a very quick, fast-paced team, and lost 34-45. On the third day of the tournament, the Lions would match up against the Sunset Apollos, a team they lost to by 20 points earlier in the season. "Jennifer Sitton, junior, kept the Lions close all game long, leading all scorers with 25 points and 10 of the Lions' 13 points in the third quarter," Glen Lee, head coach, said. "She added another seven points in the fourth quarter including a basket with 54 seconds remaining which she was fouled on, and went to the free throw line converting the three point play to tie the game at 41. Then, with 5.6 seconds left, Corey Bigoni, junior, was fouled and went to the free throw line to convert two free throws to ice the game for the 43-41 win." According to Lee, the Sunset game was the first time all season that the entire team played together and competed for a full 32 minutes. The Lions finished the tournament with a 2-1 record. With pre-season and the Canby Tournament behind them, the Lions begin league play. The team finished second in the Three Rivers League last year and hope to improve on that this year. They will open up with Milwaukie, followed by Lakeridge, Lake Oswego, Rex Putnam, Clackamas and Oregon City. "For us to have success in league this year, it's going to be important for us to come together as a team and play as one," Elise Miller, junior captain, said. The Lions will face a challenge in both Clackamas and Oregon City in that both teams are currently undefeated and Oregon City is ranked first in the 6A Coaches Poll. But the Lions will first have to defeat much-improved teams in Milwaukie, Rex Putnam and Corey Bigoni, junior, drives to the hoop during the team's second league game of the season against the Lakeridge Pacers. The Lions made a comeback late in the game but fell short, losing 49-54. Lake Oswego. "We will be looking for consistency in our play, competing in the always tough TRL in order to continue our post-season streak of making the play offs at six years in a row," Lee said. Last year, the Lions beat Grant in the first round of playoffs and lost to the eventual second place team, South Eugene, in the second round. "A lot of the teams in our league have improved immensely this year. We need to come ready to play each game," Amy Christensen, junior, said. The Lions are looking forward to the return of one of their juinor captains, Andrea Maleike. Maleike tore her ACL toward the end of the season last year and decided to sit out the month of December in order to continue rehab to strengthen her knee. The team had a rocky start to league, beating Milwaukie 38-27, followed by a loss to Lakeridge 49-54. That Friday, the Lions had a strong victory versus the Lakers of Lake Oswego, winning 62-40. 1 There were good moments: Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III crash landed plane in the Hudson River. Jaycee Dugard was rescued after 18 years. There were some odd moments: we met Susan Boyle, followed the story of fame-hungry Octomom, and chased a little boy in a hot air balloon for hours on news stations throughout the world. All in all, I'm ready to say adios to 2009. This was the year that Michael Jackson died, Michael Phelps was caught...lighting up, people worldwide struggled to survive the "epic" swine flu and Kanye West lost the respect of fans everywhere. And you know Tiger Woods is sure ready to bid farewell to 2009. It began with a car accident and multiple days of avoiding police interviews. Then the rumors began circulating. Some said he cheated on his wife, they had a fight about it and he drove off in a rage. Some said she beat him with a golf club. All anyone knew for sure was that the man who once had a perfect, squeaky- clean reputation was now the most talked about man in the country, if not the world. Eventually, women started coming out of the woodwork claiming they there were lists of more than 13 women who were linked to the golf god. Soon, it became a joke. There is a group on Facebook entitled, "I have also slept with Tiger Woods", that currently has more than Photo courtesy of Fiickr Tiger Woods works on his golf swing during a PGA golf tournament. Woods' reputation has suffered after rumors spread that he cheated on his wife multiple times. had relationships with Tiger and they thought he loved them. Right. It started with one, then another, and soon 280,000 members. We’ve heard the jokes, including the one about the difference between Tiger and Santa. We all laugh but the truth of it is, he affected so many lives because of his actions. Tiger was the god of golf. He was a hero to many. His perfect reputation made him a great role-model to kids everywhere. My little brother and his golf buddies adore Tiger Woods. They have all the hats and shirts and want to be just like him. I'll never forget the looks on their faces when they found out that he was the laughingstock of the entire country. Their faces just fell. They lost their hero. Tiger made golfing cool. By inspiring kids everywhere, he helped numerous boys and girls receive golf scholarships where before, they might never have thought of picking up a club. His buff body and strict workout regimen proved to the non believers that golf is indeed a sport. While golf took a backseat for Tiger Woods in the latter months of 2009, he did break one record: Tiger was mentioned on the cover page of the New York Post for 20 consecutive days. Previously, the longest streak (19 days) belonged to the 9/11 attacks. If that doesn't make you sad I don't know what will. He made a statement in which he said, "I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.. .1 am not without faults and I am far short of perfect." While Tiger never admits to nor takes full responsibility for what he did, he does own up to the fact that he is not the iconic hero he led everyone to believe. On an indefinite leave of absence from golf, he plans to work on becoming a better man, father and husband. Tiger Woods has made many mistakes and has become somewhat of a joke, but there's no denying he is the best golfer to ever play the sport. He changed it when he entered the PGA Tour and he changed it again when he left. For now, all ' we know for sure is that the game of golf will never again be the same. /
